User blog:Fire InThe Hole/Storystuff scrapboard
(Back to subpages) Introduction While this blog post started off five years ago with questionable purpose, I'm overhauling this one rather than calling a deleetus on it, if merely for the priceless commentary. While I have a subpage called 'Thoughtbox' and potential plans to use that for exploring some story canon concepts, characters and other things, this is mostly for housing any 'loose fodder' that I can't or won't stuff into any other corner that I can think of. That's what it did, and that's what I'm gonna make it do again. Hold this thought Loose fragments and ideas that I come across or think of. They're really unsorted, but they are roughly chronological until I start fleshing out and moving stuff, I guess. Many of these will also be from Discord conversations. Short bits *"Corrupted Flames - Relentless Murderer", a title pried off of the deletion logs. I think that's worth holding on to, maybe for Iota. *"Delta-Wau: We are everywhen", some text off of a drawing I dug up not too long ago. Has since been used in The Unclocked Crew, see the character section on the subpage overview. *Maltus is sometimes confused with the continent of Mavus for various reasons. If you know where it came from, I'm sorry. *"Concept: Dwin and Goddess of Explosions get together" (Ludi, December 2016) **"and that's how delinius was born shot" (Sam, same time and place) **''A'' goddess of explosions could be neat and I guess their offspring for some radical reason become less Gridmask-y within the span of four generations? Alternatively, I could extend the lineage back a bit, but anything branching off above Kataphorus would not be super relevant because important McGuffin here. Goddess of explosions or at least that element could be neat. *Some other thing I said in early 2017 on Discord: "Legacy of the Chipper Crew: With the majority of the Chippers dead, only one of them seeks to at least pass on their ideals - one by the name of Vice. His children and whatever young folks listened to his words fan out and act upon the ideals and intellectual heritage that Vice presented them. They prove to be inconspicuous but loyal supporters of Delinius wherever he goes." *"The Incredible Tale of That One Guy Who Bumped Into Delinius On the Way to Work One Time: When" (Ludi, Jan 2017) **"He Had Met Delinius His Life Changed For Good And He Went On An Epic Journey" (Me, same time and place) *Maltus takes up arms against the Postbringer once without knowing it. *Some kind of plot revolving around people confusing 'light' with 'holy/good' and 'darkness' with 'unholy/evil'; four parties are involved, one effectively 'light and good', one 'light and evil', one 'dark and good', one 'dark and evil'. Might've stemmed from too much TVTropes at the time, Binding of Isaac OST aside. *The Janitorkeeper: "All filth must be cleansed." Wields a mop with an axehead taped to one end. I originally wrote this in 2015 or 2016 judging by its school notebook origins, then put it in Discord early July this year. It sounds like something inspired by Ludicrine but I am not sure. *Delinius tries to keep an unknown invader out of a Dwinian library. His opponent is very persistent, returning each day with new methods to get past. Various Dwinian elders studying inside complain and tell Delinius to "keep it down" while he dodges a flurry of poisoned daggers. In the end, it turns out someone had a book that was decades overdue, and they really didn't want to pay a late fee. This isn't verbatim what Ludicrine thought up, but all the key elements are there. The Radiont sic Dwin A branch of some foofs from a far-off place that isn't well-versed in theology of any kind finds some Dwinian scripts or artifacts or something in a secret compartment on a long-abandoned vessel that washes ashore. They try their best to piece together what it all means and take some... creative liberties when they can't figure it out. (Not so much them trying to mold the myth, but them filling in the blanks with their culture, which really doesn't match up 1:1 with the practices.) The end result is a cult of worship to the Radiont Dwin, a god of radioactive properties who can make heads explode by talking to people. They're convinced that the reason this happens is because they get instantly flooded with godly knowledge beyond their comprehension in such high quantities. They're also convinced, however, that this is done as an attack rather than to spread wisdom, and that it's a really cool and effective way to kill people. The cult is largely secretive, mostly non-communicative except when absolutely necessary, and tries to kill anyone who seems to be on their tail of discovering Dwin... by spouting a bunch of word-salad nonsense at them while trying to blow up their heads with explosive melee weapons. Thank you, Ludi. nZarro, SFANB See here and here. Alternate Timelines See other blogs. Opinions about Delinius (accuracy may vary) "Delinius? He's an alright guy. 'Mysterious' fits the bill, but he is very reliable, yeah?" - Baxter Ethos Quint? (I know that even Ludi doesn't know how Baxxy talks yet so this is my guess based on The First Week.) "He's an awesome friend, but he looks like my opposite in terms of personality - this gives me some slight creeps." - Hankvi Guidza (suggested by HGD) "My brother and I are two eccentric products from a turbulent past, and I believe we both love it." – Ina Langton "Why does he disappear and appear randomly? And then there's his burritos..." – Ludicrine Anagram? (disputed given this character's Alpha-exclusive nature) "Delinius isn't really as distant as he pretends - he's actually very warm, but he doesn't want to suffer more from the distrust around his name. And he's so bad at being romantic that it's funny." - Lyka Westwood "The only thing that annoys me about Delinius is that he observes you a lot. Other than that, he's not too bad." – Revelian Zeronius "I think he's actually a nice guy. Sure he's a bit moody at times, but he's someone who you can talk with whenever you want to." – Samuel? "He's alright I guess, just don't mention Sanford near him." – Zachary Isles Reverse opinions? *Baxter: "Baxter is of an agreeable sort. I'm certainly aware of his history, but I am disinclined to hold it against him, especially while comparing it to his current activities." *Hankvi: "I cannot quite grasp what is so peculiar about him. He is most certainly an exceptional colleague to work with, and I consider it something of an honour to do so." *Ina *Lyka *Revelian (?): "Ah, the big dark figure. I believe that we mutually understand our volatile natures, and that is all I need to say about the matter." *Samuel *Zachary: "Mr. Isles? I like him well enough. A little out of place in this society, so I've learned. I believe I have some idea of how strange the world must be to him." **This one is due for an update with what info Sosh has posted about it somewhere. Langton bloodline See here. The name Langton most likely originated from Dwin, as no such name or possible related name has been found before the birth of the first Langton, Kataphorus Leroy Langton in - 356 AEQ. Much of the Langton family tree is full of gaps and question marks. Within any sort of canonity this takes, Delinius ends up being the only one who has a roughly coherent ancestry tree in his possession, including the history of the 'third branch' going from Kataphorus. Which is a terrible name, by the way. Anyway, this third branch under Crevius Vernon Langton did not get killed off or vanish into thin air, but they did forget much of their family heritage and uphold their connection to it mostly in a symbolic way. They're not necessarily extra magical after so many generations of neglecting their roots, on that note. Apparently they do keep their last name no matter what. The Armory Skar, Mori Don't mind me, just toying with equipment stuff. Equipment lore Initially just the Navigation Tablet, but I'll try to write up whatever I have on other weapons as well. Unnamed short revolver - Somewhat inspired by the Colt Python that features on the current Mercuron page, I set out to replace the 'generic handgun' on Ina's page with something more defined. The colour reminds of copper somewhat, but obviously is not. Ina remains a bit vague about where she got her hands on it, only stating that " ". Could it be that she finally snapped at some imbecile during the witch hunt period, then made off with their gun? The reference used for this was the Magnum from canon SR1. As mentioned, I also looked at the Colt Python icon. It's essentially SR1's Magnum with a fatter frame but a shorter barrel. The Breecher - Ah yes, this weapon. Lyka and Delinius built this rugged weapon together for Helena, for her 15th birthday no less. While it does not sport the kind of insane burning enchantment that Delinius' own Phoenix battleaxe possesses, it makes up for this by having a painful pair of points on the backend. The magenta coat of paint is in part to reduce the contrast with any red blood that might stain it, what with its owner's volatile nature. The Hatchet icon was the base for this; it's really just a recoloured and slightly edited version, isn't it. I might go about changing it slightly, but at the same time I'm not sure if that would make it any better. The colour of the wooden handle reminds me ever so slightly of birch wood in Minecraft; I'm not sure what this implies. Sunny Day - A different, lightweight battleaxe, though at that point it's not really a battleaxe anymore, or is it? Whatever the case, this weapon is less innocent than its friendly yellow-and-blue paint scheme pretends. Certainly, it is made of a lightweight alloy that still holds decent strength, but it would seem that this weapon can lure enemies into false ideas - similar to a siren's song. Delinius does not make mention of this axe all that much, but he will readily admit that it was " ", implying that it originally belonged to someone else. I actually used the basic Axe for the double head of this icon, with the handle of the Battleaxe icon/sprite because it is not curved like some of the others. It looks too hammer-y for my tastes, so I'm sure I'll get to slightly redesigning it at some point. Thunderous Smasher - If the Sunny Day has an ambiguous acquisition story, then the Thunderous Smasher has a dubious manufacturing story. The handle appears to be made of , which seems out of place with a weapon that Delinius supposedly acquired well before -100 AEQ. Fortunately, you as the reader share this confusion with the lad himself, who simply found it. Just like that, out of someone's duffel bag. It would seem that the conductive properties of the handle are deliberate, and maybe it is exactly what allows Delinius to strike thunder into every foe he hits with it. " " This one, like the Breecher, is really just a recoloured Hatchet image, with a bit of a decoration at the end. Daysight - Flingshot sounds dumb. Anyway! The lore for this is not dead set: for a long time Delinius simply used whatever bows he could take from the hands of dead hunters. At a late point in time before Delinius departed for Auzos, he apparently was able to get his hands on a good bow, or craft one himself. He claims that it is the latter; I'm not so sure. The icon for this thing was actually sitting around in my files under two separate versions; this is a third version that's loosely based on any of the 'shot' type bows, if slightly adapted. Phoenix battleaxe - Ah, the tried and trusted weapon, level D for Delinius. I might remove that from the icon at some point, or I might not. As included in the file description, there's apparently an entire article about this weapon. "A well-crafted axe with a head made of an unknown alloy; most suspect it to contain at least some copper alongside a stronger material, though none dare take a sample in fear of chipping the paint. The Phoenix, a mighty axe in the hands of a capable warrior, setting many things ablaze regardless of their nature. Rumours exist of this axe actually being a very modern weapon that was erroneously sent back in time. However, any such myth appears to be pure fiction: the handle is still made of wood." Indeed, this axe was a gift from one of Delinius' uncles, not long before Delinius turned twenty years old. The (Dwinian) weaponsmith seems to have been very good at what they did: the axe's paint does not chip or corrode much if at all, and the edges have remained sharp despite prolonged use. Some of this might be explained by the fact that Delinius can in fact soften the metal and sharpen it back to its usual state without much trouble, but this is something he does not need to do very often. Interestingly, there's an apparent serial number 44326 engraved on the underside of the axehead. Timeline shenanigans...? Might be coincidence. It could be an odd administration number. Whatever the case, the axe's handle has seen much more wear and tear than the head, and is wrapped in a variety of cloth and other materials in an attempt to hold it together. Quite obviously, Delinius could eventually replace this with a durable material and rubber grips or something, but he clearly likes the feel of this handle more. As a result of fighting with such a weapon pretty much since age twenty, Delinius' finesse with such a weapon is rather surprising when you consider his subpar strength. Perhaps the alloy of this axe is somewhat light for its strength too. This one is off of the Battleaxe template as well. Luminous Short Bow Katherine wields this on occasion, either when posing as slightly more mundane or when magic is not the proper solution to a problem. Originally, she only took up light archery as a hobby; after a number of incidents, she decides to take it up more seriously. It is either something that Delinius was able to create or something he ordered from a Dwinian craftsperson. I've made mention of this in the Thoughtbox under Magic Things but I'll mention it here too: it seems those Dwineans really love their enchanted equipment. The bow is not particularly powerful, but calls down painfully bright beams of light on its foes, which is occasionally enough to stun them entirely. There are rumours that the bow provides Katherine with the magical equivalent of a HUD, complete with trajectory prediction. This is ridiculous and silly. She can aim just fine, and nobody should question her accuracy. Tempester Another short bow, but this one ends up in Raff's possession instead. The original owner was a great trickster who was an expert in achieving mischief with this enchanted bow. It has a tendency towards elemental magic, and more generally towards anything weather-related. Its name as a result is a portmanteau of 'tempest' and 'pester'. In the stats section, however, it ends up simply being ice-type for its special effects, even though it can do so much more. I was going for water at first, but the water type is literally a watered-down version of ice. The Conkeror - A quarterstaff, you say? Well now. The old wizard who originally owned and in part created this quarterstaff seems to have been very fond of hitting, or 'conking', people on the head with it, and used this method to conquer nearly any opposition he met. The name is every bit as silly as he intended it. Both this conking habit and the silliness seem to have rubbed off on the weapon itself through prolonged use, and as a result it slightly gravitates towards heads or similar body parts when used in combat. Has a strong affinity with wind magic, which is used either to increase the speed (and thereby the force) with which it hits its foes, or to perform small feats of magic with. It's also said to be 'almost haunted' by Helena when she finds out what it does. On a related note, I first made a blank quarterstaff (mostly) from scratch, then created some general characteristics for the whole weapon type if stats were to be involved. More info below in the actual stats section. Navigation Tablet Working on making this less 'ex nihilo/ex machina'. The Navigation Tablet, an old gift to Delinius from one of his uncles (Linius Dave Langton), who is noted for his gratuitous enchanting of miscellaneous little objects. In some abstract sense, the celestial/solar aspect of Dwin dictates that spatial magic falls within the deity's domain, even if hardly any Dwinian seriously develops related talents. Linius seems to have been an exception, and an inspiration for the name of his nephew. As its rather bland name suggests, this small (< 5cm/2in) sandstone tablet can transport its user across large distances, given the right actions are taken. It fortunately transports their clothing and belongings along too, as long as those are in physical contact at the time. Up to two 'passengers' can ride along by physical touch as well. It does have its limits, however. *The location has to be one that the user can clearly visualise, which immediately brings up trouble with vague memories and the like. *Accuracy decreases with distance; if one is not careful, they could easily displace an amount of dirt or wall in the process and get stuck. *Extra material and/or passengers also impact accuracy negatively. *While not necessarily possessing a source of magic of its own, this tablet does not grant limitless teleportation without delay; Delinius is not likely to squeeze out more than a handful of longer jumps within a single day, and generally doesn't do so anyway, what with the accuracy issues that would arise. If we were to compare it to Raskova, Raskova has more restrictions and requirements, but overall she has a more refined control over her teleportation. This aside, Delinius is still unlikely to use the little sandstone thing all that much. Why compare it to Raskova? Because her abilities are very well-defined. Reminds me to possibly sit down and do similar things for characters I've designed. Anyway, here's why Delinius is not so likely to be a Teleport Spam fiend. *First of all, Delinius can create wing-like constructs that function as such through magic, which grants him finite but extensive flight. How far exactly, I don't know, but it was enough to cross from Gredile to Auzos with, at least. *Accuracy issues start getting significant well before you can reach the edge of Steckenberg City from the center of it, which decreases its utility for everyday use. *Delinius is highly disinclined towards using it in plain sight, and does so very sparingly to make it seem like a very limited ability. This is, obviously, a way to seem weaker and less significant than he is, which is kind of his deal. One of his deals, at least. Delinius' Journal And all the mind-bound journals, by extension. They all have this in common: *Freely interact with their owner's mind, especially their memories. *Serve as a functionally limitless expanse into which memories may overflow, since a Gridmask's mind probably isn't meant to process more than a century's worth of experiences most of the time. *Obviously present a vulnerability or risk, since they need to stay in close proximity to their owner. It is some obscure Dwinian craft that Delinius does not find the key to until after AEQ, let's say not before 44 AEQ for thematics, without confirming that 44 AEQ would actually be the year. Heheh. His ancestors certainly knew, but the obscure works in particular prove much harder to locate than the more practical reference works that simply teach a Dwinian pyromancy. Hence why he does not until a good while later. I may edit a tome sprite into such a journal, even though I have also edited an unrelated book sprite into two versions. You can find that in my Google Drive folder nowadays. Other Equipment Things that don't have such a clearly defined design yet or don't have their place defined. Napalm Halberd Delinius gets to borrow this weapon somewhere at some point in time. This weapon and the idea of Delinius borrowing it both came from Ludicrine. Redeeming Quiver(s) A combination of precise location tracking and spatial magic allows the user of this quiver to retrieve their projectiles after they have dealt their damage. This makes the use of more exotic and durable projectiles considerably easier. These would eventually become a notable addition to the equipment of Delinius, Katherine and even Raff. Archery turns out to work out fine for the latter two, yes. Attempted weapon stats First I made icons and lore bits, now I'm making stats? What is this, 2015? Regardless, I've put a little bit of thought into these and/or the lore pieces indicate some of the weapons' properties. For now I copied the table from the Axes page; I might go and copy the one from the Chest page instead because it'd make more sense, but this is all user space anyway so it doesn't really matter. Probably all weapons have a custom level based off of their owner. Tooltip tags will help you tell which is which, hopefully. Table Notes I did most of this in a rather short period of time; some of the later weapons then made me revisit the stats as well. *Most of these weapons have had their stats based off of level 5/6 weapons, even if their icon doesn't always reflect it. Then again canon Resort-bought weapons oftentimes have icons one tier lower, and there's the Mithril Hatchet if you wanted fanon examples too. Exceptions to this are the Thunderous Smasher (after both the Thunder Hatchet and the Storm Hatchet which are 3 and 4, respectively) and Ina's unnamed short revolver, whose icon is styled after canon SR's Magnum 7 (!) but still with an AT range that seems on par with level 5/6 weapons or slightly below. **On that note, the gun logic on the revolver might not be 100% how firearms actually work; please inform me if I should change something up. *About the axes: **Delinius' axes tend towards lower base AT and AGI but more powerful bonus AT for relatively low MP costs. **I actually nerfed the B.AT on the Phoenix battleaxe after some math. Whoops. **Maybe the Thunderous Smasher would warrant a buff, but for now it should be good. **I will redesign the icon for the Sunny Day, but the weapon and its stats should otherwise be fine; the modest bonus AT is offset a little by the weapon's very low AGI (for an axe, anyway). **The Breecher combines potent physical damage (akin to the physical-oriented axes from the 'canon' fanon list) with non-trivial Bonus AT at a very modest cost. Its primary AT is slightly lower than the axes from the leveled list to slightly balance this out. *About the bows: **Daysight is still a silly name but it's not as terrible as 'Flingshot'. For its base AT, I added up the total AT of Sept Shot 5, -10% (as described on Delinius' character page), then divded by two because it seemed rather high to me at the time. In return for being rather weak, it sports an inherent critical hit chance and a huge range advantage over typical 'shot' style bows which already have quite the range. **The Luminous short bow is more or less on par with canon bows at level 5; while it has slightly lower MP cost, it also has a weaker primary and bonus AT. The arrows are supposedly a bit more lightweight, explaining their lower damage and their lower arc, or so I claim. **The Tempester's stats are likewise in the same range as level 5/6 bows, though here the Ice type stands out a bit compared to both canon weapons and the other weapons in this armory section. Quarterstaves? Right! About quarterstaves, which did not exist as a fanon weapon type at all. **I mostly made the blank image from scratch, with the help of a mobile game called Pixel Dungeon for comparison material. I think it's exactly that game which made me notice the quarterstaff as an interesting weapon. Some general characteristics, just in case I'm seriously pursuing a fanon class (Monk?) wielding these. *+ Consistent AT range *+ AGI consistently remains 40-50 for most weapons unlike some melee classes (canon and fanon) *+ Inherent block rate *- On the slow side for a melee class *- Primary attack deals no splash damage; poor crowd control compared to swords and gloves *- Limited types (physical, fire, thunder, ice) I opted for no Freeze on quarterstaves, but no Poison made sense to me on a blunt weapon. Though that doesn't necessarily explain why the Gladiator gets no poisioned blades of any kind, I guess. As the list of up- and downsides tries to show, the quarterstaff tries to be a slower, more consistent and more defensive weapon class. I'd give it either 25 or 30 range, depending on how long IRL quarterstaves usually were. As for the inherent block rate, it is supposed to be 5% per weapon tier (5% for levels 1-2, 10% for levels 3-4, etc.), which scales nicely without being too powerful. Level 9 and S weapons would 'only' sport a 25% block rate, though I do have ideas for weapons that have either no inherent block rate (but better damage and/or AGI) or an increased block rate at the cost of less damage dealt. I'll try to compose a list of level 0-2 weapons to see how that holds up. Now, about the Conkeror and its funny name, since I don't have an existing list of regular weapons here, I've eyeballed the stats by comparing with canon swords of level 5 and 6, and then looked at some fanon weapons that had the Wind type attached. The resulting design is nice in my opinion. Maybe it could be incorporated as a Resort weapon, with the knockback either being inherent to the weapon itself or to a physical-type bonus AT, something which no other quarterstaff of that type would have. But those are just distant plans. The Great Mailman War Just some old holdover from before I started writing Return to Sender and The Great Mailman War. When the news reported of strange mail-carrying creatures piling people's post with unwanted and seemingly incoherent sheets of paper, I was entrusted the task of firstly eliminating the larger part of the creatures, as they were becoming a plague - instances of these "Paperworks Deliverers" would often spray a stream of paper at any civilians attempting to interfere with their 'deliveries'. The amount of paper seemed inconsistent with the size of the creatures, leading most to believe that some form of spatial magic or anomaly is contained within. After a small amount were retained - both for study and for adoption at the facilities of Isles and Quint - I was asked if I were willing to help locate the source, for there were new instances every day. Having been a 'recipient' of unwanted papers numerous times, despite the remote location of my home, I agreed. After twenty-six days, we had finally discovered the source location, which was a derelict and abandoned warehouse somewhere in the south of Steckenberg. Upon entry, we were swarmed by a myriad of the wretched things, and engulfed by what is best described as an avalanche of paper. Somewhat irritable, I dealt with this situation through mass incineration - while still keeping an eye on the structural integrity of the building. About a hundred metres from the entrance stood a creature - though 'construct' or even 'machine' describes the mass of things we found. This is what we discovered was the Mass Scale Print Distributor. Traces of ink, among other signs, indicated that there might have been more than this sole object, but the law enforcers that had been assigned to aid me did not want to investigate further. We dislodged and transported it to I&Q, along with a sheet of paper describing both the MSPD and the entities we now know as Paperworks Deliverers. I was commended for my success, and we all presumed the issue was over. It seems we were wrong. Aside from the curious and anomalous creature discovered by one of our CEO's, Baxter, reports of other creatures related to the previous ones emerged. Everything appears such that I may conclude that this problem is more extensive than we initially thought it to be. A request has been submitted to me to teach a special enforcement unit in the arts of pyromancy in order to deal with outbreaks efficiently (flamethrowers are deemed to expensive at the time). Although not opposed to this idea, I have not yet decided upon granting this request. If this problem proves too large for both me and a specialised force to handle, I will have to engage the help of some fellow Dwinians, perhaps. You'll find that some of this will be slightly SCP-inspired, which is in part because of certain things in the descriptions in that one Angels pack. Hehehe. And I like the SCP Foundation as a creative thing. Lyka's backstory Really needs some planning done. The stupid DREAM acronym and what bad lore I wrote really irk me, but at the same time I could set it up to be slightly less out of place. I am ditching the acronym though. For now the organisation remains unnamed; I'll see if I can find something more plausible. *Bunch of 'scientists' trying to examine how magic works, but their methods are horrible; their origins lie in the witch hunt period. *Lyka was displaced and separated from her family due to monster attacks and runs into a bunch of outcasts who turn out to be magic users. They take her in and prove to her that the rumours are false. In addition, a number of the group's members instruct her about a certain set of necklaces they are wearing; this later turns out to be a set of instructions for a ritual. *Paranoid Ludusians eventually find and kill most or all of the group; Lyka hides away in fear and survives the event. Remembering the instructions of her friends, she completes a ritual that turns out to halt her biological aging. *Doesn't really have meaningful friendships until Langton Inc., but she's actually fine with casual babble and such - necessary for survival, or really just what she is like? Here's the terrible description I gave early in 2017: Project D.R.E.A.M: Short for Dreamer's Retroactive Emergent Aggression Module. The base upon which this line of experiments rests was originally a noble scientific idea, but it was seized by a group of shady individuals headed by a deranged individual known as The Dreamer. It is this individual that they all worship. Has something to do with Lyka's background; slated to be involved in a future happening. Probably on the Altered timeline, after reuniting with Delinius, Lyka tries to get her hands on non-Gridmask tech from Universe City in hopes of reverse-engineering it. This could easily get her into trouble with said city's authorities. Maybe Delinius has to come rescue her from the city, using his wits rather than raw power to convince the city council to let her go. Alternatively, the two stand their ground against UC forces at home. Either scenario would likely involved some of the Isles & Quint crew. Speaking of which - the city council is what used to be the Ethereal Council (including Asterion); you can find more about the changes in the Thoughtbox under the Characters Things subsection.